October 12, 2006

David: Shangri-Wha?

People told me I was daft to try to ascend the Mountain of the Blue Men. They took great pleasure in regaling me with myths and legends about these mysterious blue-skinned humanoids living in the upper reaches of the range. “Nonsense!” I told them, and that’s what I believed.

After three days the sherpas abandoned me. Superstitious cowards. Two days later my radio dropped down a crevasse. The next evening, I noticed a silhouette, someone standing on a ridge, watching me. By morning, I was surrounded. They didn’t approach or interfere, just observed as I continued on my azure-peopled climb.